An image of the Iron Throne taken from an episode of the television programme Game of Thrones. Photo: HBO

China’s national broadcaster began airing the popular television series Game of Thrones on Sunday in an edited format that drew ire from a number of outspoken Chinese fans of American television.

The first three seasons of the fantasy programme are airing in a Putonghua dub on CCTV’s Premium Channel. The fourth season will air in English with subtitles, presumably because a dub has not yet been completed.

The show’s re-airing attracted an estimated 6.9 million viewers in only the second occasion that Game of Thrones has been broadcast on Chinese television.

An edited version of the programme’s first season was subtitled and broadcast on CCTV in 2012, and unlicensed versions of the show have been available on the Chinese internet ever since.

The ease of downloading these pirated and unedited versions has left a number of Chinese viewers aware that much of the series’ blend of nudity, bloodshed and foul language is absent from CCTV’s official broadcasts.

“I estimate that they cut about twenty minutes,” one disgruntled Weibo commentator wrote after the first episode re-aired on Sunday. “The story feels discontinuous… [When they began re-airing it], my first reaction was ‘This can’t be!’ Then my second reaction was, ‘My God, what a mess.’”

“So they’ve cut about a quarter of all the fight scenes, then a quarter of the nude scenes,” another netizen quipped. “I guess that’s okay if all you want to watch is a medieval European castle documentary.”

Aside from the edits, numerous netizens complained about the series’ new Putonghua dub, and many argued that hearing familiar characters suddenly speaking “Taiwanese-sounding” Chinese was an odd choice.

“[This dub] really makes [Game of Thrones] sound like a Taiwanese drama,” one Weibo blogger wrote. “I’m boycotting all dubbed versions of American TV; CCTV can go to hell.”

The decision to air a dubbed version of Game of Thrones comes in light of the disappearance of several popular American television shows from Chinese video streaming websites.

According to Xinhua reports, four US programmes, including The Big Bang Theory, The Practice, The Good Wife and NCIS, were removed from sites over the weekend.

China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) called for the removal.

So they’ve cut about a quarter of all the fight scenes, then a quarter of the nude scenes. I guess that’s okay if all you want to watch is a medieval European castle documentary

In a Monday editorial, official Party mouthpiece People’s Daily commented on the decision, arguing that it was necessary to review internet streaming of foreign television programmes to prevent netizens from being exposed to “negative effects and hidden security dangers”.

Many fans of The Big Bang Theory, a show about a group of nerdy scientists, argued that it was ridiculous for the programme to be accused of disseminating “negative effects” especially when the violent Game of Thrones was airing on public television.

CCTV later announced that it had acquired the rights to The Big Bang Theory and would exclusively re-air the programme in a dubbed, “healthy” version.

“I’m not sticking around to wait for [CCTV] to air an edited version of The Big Bang Theory just like what they’ve done with [Game of Thrones],” a Weibo user wrote. “CCTV wants to stop online video sites from streaming these American shows… They want to control all televised programming, and in the name of ‘reform’, exterminate innovation and competition, only maintaining the interests of their monopoly.”

“CCTV needs popular US shows,” another wrote. “They’ve got to get people watching CCTV, after all.”

The entire point of the show and its source material is to subvert common conventions with medieval fantasies, and presents a world that's as violent, vulgar and ambiguous as our own. There's no way you can cut out violence and nudity from Game of Thrones without wrecking the show's entire foundation.You see what's probably going to happen to Hong Kong once China takes a hold of it by 2047. All these foreign TV shows and media blocked off just because of their so-called 'corrupting influence'? If this is the society China is promising Hong Kong, I'm not taking it.

actually the removal of big bang theory from websites seems to have been a move inspired by money. CCTV wanted to get the license to the show, so they snagged it and then forced all the other sites like sohu & yoku to take it down...now there's a edited version going to come out soon where sheldon and company are all gonna be speaking chinese and all of the american pop culture jokes are likely going to be wonderfully awkward.

jmscscmp May 1st 201411:13am

Things are getting to the point where savvy Chinese people who want unfiltered access to these foreign programmes really need to be able to work the internet to find unlicensed, bootleg versions. The grey market may be illegal but that is the only way you can get your entertainment uncensored nowadays.

chanaa May 1st 201412:35pm

whao. What red wedding ?

jiawang@****** May 7th 201410:56pm

It's amusing to watch China's decision makers.

jmscscmp May 2nd 20145:12pm

As long as they dont edit the feesh out... i like fish!

ejychan@****** May 1st 20141:38pm

No seriously. Which part of the Big Bang Theory does the Chinese government object to?